In our home, Opening Day of baseball reignites the April-October daily regimen of bonding over baseball. America’s past time is loved by so many, so it’s no surprise that these days, the love of the game extends beyond the game itself. From the littlest baseball fan to the aspiring ace, here’s a short lineup of fun gear in honor of opening day:
Topps recently took baseball cards to a new dimension–quite literally–when they unveiled 3-D Live. With a webcam, baseball card collectors can now view a 3-D avatar of players from select 2009 Topps trading cards on their computer screen. Rotate the card, and the figure rotates in full perspective. Augmented reality is a combination of a real image with a virtual one. 3-D baseball cards? Now that’s a brand new ballgame!
We grew up in a cul-de-sac, so in our baseball games, we used car bumpers, manhole covers and curbs as bases and we mentally kept score. But for the high tech set, Junk Ball has a pretty cool Ghost Runner Baseball that’s designed to remedy all that guessing. The Ghost Runner electronically keeps track of runners on base and the score. And with lights and sounds, it also tracks innings played, team at bat and the number of outs in each inning. It automatically switches teams after three outs are recorded. Information is entered into Ghost Runner’s electronic home plate with the touch of a button/base.
Learning to love baseball isn’t just a rite of passage reserved for boys anymore! The baseball greats might be rolling over at the thought of a Princess-themed baseball set, but who says girls can’t play too? Little Tikes has a T-ball set in pink that just might hone even the girliest girl’s budding ball skills.
It’s never too early to start grooming them to play ball. From an early age, tots can learn to perfect their swing to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Play Ball” with Playskool’s Swing ‘N Score Baseball.
